A teacher, 41, was yesterday hauled before a Kaneshie Magistrate Court for setting the fire that ravaged parts of the Kantamanto market in Accra on December 15, this year.
The accused person, Daniel Kormla Dah, who is a resident of Ho in the Volta Region, is before the court charged with a count of causing unlawful damage to which he pleaded not guilty.
The case of the prosecution is that the suspect set the fire to a section of the market and the cause of the fire is suspected to be an act of arson, destroying properties running into millions of Ghana Cedis.
He was arrested on December 18, 2020 in Ho after investigations revealed that he was a member of a Facebook chat platform called ‘NDC Administrator’.
Mr. Dah, according to the police, had posted a message on the social media platform indicating that “We are burning down Kantamanto tomorrow.”
He has, however, denied being the one behind the fire as police continue to investigate the matter.
Bail
His lawyer, Theophilus Donkor, prayed the court to grant him bail as he was presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.
He told the court that the accused was a professional teacher who had a fixed place of abode and would show up for the trial when granted bail
The application was opposed by the prosecution led by Detective Sergeant Amoah Richard, who told the court that the police were still investigating the matter and the accused person would disappear if granted bail.
The court presided over by Her Worship Rosemond Agyiri after listening to both sides granted Mr. Dah bail of GH¢300,000 with three sureties, two of who must be justified.
The court ruled that two of the sureties must have residential addresses or abode within the court’s jurisdiction.
The accused is also to report to the police every last Monday of every month. The case was adjourned to January 4, 2021.
Fire
The popular Kantamanto Market in Accra, the major hub for secondhand clothing and other wares, was on December 16 evening gutted by a yet to be explained fire outbreak.
The fire, which had largely been subdued by firefighters from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), had started showing signs of starting again.
Over a thousand bales of used imported clothing were consumed by the fire—dashing the hopes of traders to make Yuletide sales.
Also affected were tailors specializing in alteration services, their sewing machines having been completely gutted. These tailors do alteration on some of the imported secondhand clothing.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak